Great Post-SPM Life!

Salaamun 'ala man ittaba' al-Huda.

Today is March 7th, 2010. Exactly one month after Jatidiri ended. My life has changed quite a bit after the camp. Maybe it's just because I'm not a school student anymore, but I'm totally convinced that my post-SPM life would be very different without Jatidiri.

Two days after Jatidiri, I received a message from my ex-Principal, Cikgu Abdullah Thaidi. The message read: "Are you interested in becoming the Biology teacher at IKISS?" I was like, at first, "What?!" Ha ha. Teaching Fourth and Five formers right after SPM is like something new at IKISS; never have been done before. I consulted my Ummi and Abah and they gave me the greenest light.

Cikgu Aisyah is on maternity lift for two months. The substitute teacher for Biology, Cikgu Hashidah, has to do office work besides teaching. So, Mudir wants me to take Biology off Cikgu Hashidah's timetable.

I never thought that teaching is this fulfilling. I am really enjoying my work now. Akhi Hanif (Gen VII) is also now a teacher at IKISS, but he is also a full-time warden. He needs to have some of his classes off. So I happily offered myself to take his Khat classes. After all, this is my chance to be close to my juniors of Generation XIII and Generation XIV.

In all, I now teach six classes: 1A, 1F, 2A, 2F, 4 Imtinaan and 5 Itqan. Of all these classes, the class I most enjoy teaching is 4 Imtinaan. You guys are simply the best. The boys are attentive and the girls are responsive. I hope they understand what I'm teaching, he he. 5 Itqan is just like 5 Ijtihad - silent and less responsive. 1A is cute and weird (imagine you are teaching and suddenly one girl comes in front and start arranging the tables). 1F is in high spirits and very proactive (a few stood up to answer when I asked for volunteers). Insya-Allah I will start to teaching 2A and 2F tomorrow. Can't wait!

Speaking of Itqan and Imtinaan, I'd like to go a little off-topic. Something special about IKISS is that we get to name our own batch when we enter Form Four, starting from the sixth batch. Sixth Batch (Akhi Ikhwan et al) is named Hikmah. Seventh Batch (Akhi Hanif et al) is Iltizam. Eighth Batch (Akhi Muhsin et al) is Imtiyaz. Ninth Batch (my batch) is Ijtihad. Tenth Batch (Abrar et al) is Itqan. Eleventh Batch (Adib et al) is Imtinaan. I love the tradition! Waiting for Mahfudz's batch...

Now at IKISS, we have workers who once learnt at IKISS. Alumnis returning to serve their school a favour. We have Kak Mas from Generation II, Akhi Syahrul from Hikmah(VI), Akhi Hanif and Ukhti Atiqah from Iltizam(VII), Akhi Fattah from Imtiyaz(VIII), and Akhi Hashimi and Ilman from Ijtihad(IX). I hope after this our products continue to return and serve the school. Tarbiah fi aidina fi aidina faqat. Tarbiah is in our hands and only in our hands.

Besides teaching, I am now working for a camp which will be held in Perlis this upcoming weekend insya-Allah. The camp is called ALERT I, which stands for ProACTIVE Leaders Retreat. ALERT I is attended by participants hand-selected by the working committee - 140 students from SMIK, SMAKL, and MATRI. Oh, I can't wait to meet with the future leaders of the Ummah! It's gonna be exciting! (C'mon, what's more exciting than Islam?)

At-Taqwa Fourth Edition is in printing process. Expect it to be published by next week. I worked on the magazine for three weeks after Jatidiri. That's nothing compared to Pakcik Izzat who worked on it since I went to Jatidiri. All in all, it is finished. But ... we have serious financial issues here. I hope anybody good-hearted out there would stop by at IKISS and donate some money for our magazine!

I had fun with my family, too. On 25/2, we played futsal together. On 27/2 (Happy Birthday, Anwar), we went for bowling at Sunway. I guess programmes like these are nice and should be held more often ... they make our physique healthier and our silaturrahmi stronger ... and I suggest archery and paintball next!

Jatidiri opened a way for me to meet new and great personalities. We meet again after Jatidiri, greeted each other like we have known each other for a long time. At IKISS, at a restaurant, during a seminar at UKM, at ALERT meetings ... friends in Islam from all over Malaysia. Miss and love you guys for the sake of Allah!

And the last but not least; I hope you guys will pray for our good results. The SPM results will be out this Thursday, insya-Allah. I hope Allah will make my path to take Medicine easy. Amin. And I pray to Allah that my friends will get the results they wished for. (Ihsan, do you want me to pray for your minimal results so that you may take up Multimedia? Ha ha.)

11 March. The Ultimatum.

Pray for us.

Wassalam~

*I have converted the all caps JATIDIRI into first-letter-only Jatidiri following the style proposed by the latest edition of New Hart's Rules.